Northwest Portland

As Sam's Public Advocate for transportation, the year 2007 continued to provide me with abundant opportunities to assist citizens with their questions and concerns regarding City services and projects. Specifically, the insightful and passionate inquiries we received challenged me, along with other bureaus throughout the City, to "think outside the box" and in turn to provide action-oriented responses to citizens seeking results.

On Wednesday August 8, Portland City Council unanimously voted to reduce the hourly threshold that triggers a lobbying entity's obligation to register with the auditors offices. The City Council believes that the threshold reduction will require more entities to disclose their lobbying activities. This action builds on Commissioner Adams' efforts to "daylight" political decision making and create a more accessible city government.

Under the changes, lobbying entities who spend more than eight hours "attempting to influence the official action of City officials" must register with the auditor. Under the original ordinance sponsored by Sam, elected officials and bureau directors must publish their official calendars. This is an effort to disclose who is meeting with city leaders and whose interests are being represented in the decisions of the council.

GreenStreet on Division"Sustainable Communities" will be the theme of the community town hall hosted by Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams and State Senator Brad Avakian (District 17). The town hall, slated for Tuesday, October 2nd from 7 to 9 P.M. will be held at the Friendly House in northwest Portland, which is located at 2617 NW Savier St.

The town hall follows on the heels of 2007 legislative session, which was easily one of the ‘greenest' in recent memory. During the past session, Senator Avakian chaired the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee and worked to pass bills that promoted the development of Oregon's renewable energy and biofuels industries, expanded electronics recycling, and laid the groundwork for addressing global climate change.

Proposed changes to the City of Portland's Transportation System Development Charge (TSDC)  program, as well as the list of improvement projects, reflect the direct involvement of several hundred stakeholders over the course of the TSDC Update study.  The Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) -- representing a broad spectrum of Portland's residents, business community and interest groups -- oversaw the project from its inception.

Sam's comments to Council during today's work session:

Thank you for participating in this work session, where we will have the opportunity to discuss at length the status of the city, state, regional and federal efforts to secure capital and operating funds for the Portland Streetcar Loop Project.

This discussion is extremely important for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that we have assembled more outside matching funds for this project than any previous Portland streetcar project. A big thank you is in order to U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio for their efforts on the federal level and to the Oregon State Legislature for helping us get to where we are today.

Jennifer Anderson

The Portland Tribune

The unexpected downpour this week didn’t throw Eva Frazier for a loop at all.

Peggy Anderson

On Sunday, June 17, Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams joined ten Nob Hill business owners and residents in a walk along NW 23rd Avenue to assess the street's proposed reconstruction and to hear the views and concerns of those who live and work in the area.  Adams oversees Portland's transportation system - which Adams says is "in trouble." The commissioner's website www.commissionersam.com outlines the following facts about the city's transportation infrastructure:

LA Times PhotoWired for weird: Locally grown food and folklore sprout along the beaten streetcar path.

By Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 04, 2007

"Keep Portland weird," the bumper stickers say. I have no idea what they're talking about. I'm here on business - public transportation infrastructure tourism business.

Dear Linntoners,

Happy New year. I promised some of you that I would give my personal "two-cents" on an alternative and improved Linnton vision. A vision that requires minor and very limited changes to the existing land use zones.

Attached you will find some graphics that staff worked up based on my ideas. I can see in Linnton's future a mixed use "spine" along highway 30 including retail, office and housing near the highway, with underground parking; to add a feature unique to Linnton, a pier over the industrial area providing access to a riverbank park. If money were no obstacle, the pier also could be extended into the Willamette River, offering a place for boats to dock.

Currently, Burnside has uncomfortably narrow (and therefore uninviting) sidewalks in many sections.When I became the commissioner-in-charge of Transportation about 14 months ago, I inherited a host of different projects. Some were run-of-the-mill, while others were less straight-forward. The Burside improvements fell into this latter category.

While a previous council had okayed the plan, I was not familiar with the project. So, because some concerns had been raised about the Burnside-Couch plan, and also because of personal reservations I had about the cost-benefit ratio of such a big-ticket project, I decided that even though council had already approved it, I was not going to move it forward until I had personally and thoroughly reviewed it.

Sam helps BOM fix Potholes...When Sam became the transportation commissioner a year ago, finding a way to improve Portland's roads was at the top of his list of priorities. He was concerned with the city's many unpaved gravel roads, the prevalence of potholes and bumps, and the overall quality of the road system.

The issue of the Linnton Neighborhood Plan came to me about five years ago.  At that time, I dug into the details of this issue. 

As part of my informal review, I personally conferred with the leadership of the leadership of the adjacent Northwest Industrial Area District who verified the claim of Linnton's leadership that NINA had no qualms with the draft elements of Linnton Neighborhood Plan to change industrial zone to mixed use residential, office and commercial.  I discussed the issues with selected property owners. I reviewed the safety issues based on the information I had at hand.

Tuesday August 1^st was the 23^rd annual National Night Out and neighbors all over the Portland area gathered to celebrate. This year, Victoria Jones and SamSam and his team attended a record breaking 11 neighborhood parties in the North and Northeast areas of Portland. National Night Out is celebrated all over the country and focuses on crime and drug prevention in America’s neighborhoods. Sam and the team asked neighbors about public safety concerns at each party and the feedback received gives us a good picture of where public safety attention should be paid.

   Green spaces, eco-sustainability and environmental friendliness are all strongly connoted with the Portland Metro area. In order for these things to remain as Portland's trademark, the region’s eTryon Creek Parknvironment needs to be protected. The Natural Areas Bond Measure seeks to do this by allowing Metro to acquire and protect natural areas, rivers, streams, and creeks in the Portland Metro area.

A couple of months ago, Sam and I met with Office of Transportation staff and representatives from the Northwest District Association (NWDA) and the Nob Hill Business Association (NHBA) to discuss growing concerns over pedestrian safety in Northwest Portland.

The event that really hit home to bring this to our attention was on January 31, 2006, at 7:35pm. Sara Cogan, a personal friend of Sam's, and her daughter-in-law Danielle Cogan were leaving Pastini Pastaria on the corner of NW 23rd Avenue and Quimby Street. They were yielded to by a southbound driver, and began to cross in the crosswalk.